Little Janes Creek Loop

Arcata Community Forest

Click for map.


I had bigger plans for the day, but a poor reaction to a vaccine made it feel unwise to go out so far. (But at least the chance of dying or disability at the proteins of some novel virus is reducing by the day?) I did feel better when moving, so came out for an afternoon hike. And do you know, I somehow seem to have never hiked trail 7 in the community forest? This is the sort of thing one can find out after taking far too much time to populate a map with everything she's tracked, although I really did it to see the larger holes. How to go? Well, it's out there a bit from everything, so it doesn't really matter where you start. I picked Fickle Hill. The parking is back in only. I might not have noticed except that there were four cars already there and all backed in. I expect it's for safety as people come down a little fast and I decided to go with it before finally noticing the sign after parking near it. And then... well, 9 to 8 to 12 should get me to 7. They all have names, but the signs only have the numbers. I started off on Fickle Hill Grade, number 9, past the gate and a few signs.

Fickle Hill Grade is one of the main access roads also.

Trillium and redwood sorrel continue to bloom.

Bird song filled the air, but in an alien way. Everything singing was a varied thrush, which picks a note and holds it for a few seconds. Low and high and middle, the many birds overlapped each other and left silence at other moments.

These bicycle repair stations have been popping up.

There are one or two impressive trees in the second growth forest. Look at it in comparison to that trail you can drive a car down!

Mostly it's old growth stumps, of course.

I passed 13, which is the Ridge Loop Trail and the route of the Arcata Ridge Trail. The map seems to indicate this has been finished to Fickle Hill although the Sunny Brae portion is still not there. I keep pondering checking it, but I still want all of it, so passed is all I did. Shortly after, there is 7, Upper Janes Creek Trail.

The start of Upper Janes Creek Trail. Bicycles and horses are allowed.

Light coming through the redwood needles.

It's a pleasant trail with plenty to ponder on the way.

The trail starts off quite wide and graveled.

It suddenly narrows although it still shows the kinds of cuts usually only done for roads.

Beside, the steep sides of the cut made by Janes Creek.

A cute, tiny skunk cabbage at a spot where a little water crosses the trail.

Janes Creek is tiny up here. They get choked with fallen items, like this bridging branch full of redwood sorrel.

Bridges cross Janes Creek and a tiny tributary even if it is small.

I made it all the way to 11, the Janes Creek Road, in a spot that got a little bit of attention in the recent timber sale. It looks, well, a bit like big machinery has been there. It got better as I made my way to 6, but 11 just isn't the nicest of the trails.

A tall old stump serves as a huckleberry planter.

Trail 6, Lower Janes Creek Trail, starts cut right through a low hill. Horses and bicycles allowed.

I was expecting more from Lower Janes Creek Trail, number 6. I'm not sure why. I have been on it before, although for the first half only for a rather wandering geocaching day. I was halfway lost when I got to it and this was good to help sort things into place. There really are quite a lot of trails in the community forest.

There's some "doghair" trees, the sort that are practically a thicket of redwoods, growing on that east end of the trail.

It gets better and the trees get bigger.

Janes Creek has grown in a very short length. The skunk cabbage are entertaining here.

After the bridge, the trail sets into a bit of a climb. It is listed as one of the steep ones.

A single blooming iris seen on this day. Most are just thin leaves as yet.

It's a steep hill down to the creek below on this trail, too.

I came out onto the Community Forest Loop Road, number 8, once more. I turns for the long way around and got going.

The Community Forest Loop Road is a much larger trail than little Lower Janes Creek Trail almost hidden at its side there.

A big, natural bouquet of trillium.

I got down to the little wiggle needed to access Big Rock Trail, number 4. This one has quite a lot of bicycle tracks on it for something that is marked "hiker only" on the map. Then again, how would they know? No one bothered to sign it. Perhaps it was removed. It was still a bit much to find three kids zooming a bit too fast down the hill at me on a narrow trail. The trail itself is quite nice, and I can see why they like going on it, albeit in the other direction.

There, just across the Jolly Giant Creek, is the big rock.

The Jolly Giant Creek was the city's first water supply.

Looking back along the trail.

So I got back up to the Fickle Hill Grade, number 9, right next to that bicycle repair stand. They're practically being encouraged. The signage for 4, which is hiker only, varies not at all from the signage for 3, which is multi-use, only by the number on it. So it goes. Anyway, I was feeling better for moving around. I got back to the parking to find I was now the only one backed in. It was a bit more full in its head in state.

©2021 Valerie Norton
Written 18 Apr 2021